


The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

by paupotter_4869



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 and 3/4, Second year, september 1st
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8009683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paupotter_4869/pseuds/paupotter_4869
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>September 1st; year 2018. The Weasley-Potter clan run through King's Cross Station, late, and they meet face-first against the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. They've missed the Hogwarts Express. Memoirs of that one time when two of their parents went to Hogwarts in a Ford Anglia come to mind. How will James Potter, Albus Severus and Rose Weasley get to Hogwarts?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

**Author's Note:**

> All credit to J. K. Rowling. Hope you like it!

The Weasley-Potter clan run as much as they can across the crowded London train station, five kids, four adults, all of them wizards and witches, dragging along three enormous trunks with each carts, maybe a bit too heavy--one of the carts has lost a wheel and they’ve been forced to enchant it quickly in order not to lose any more time. They don’t think any Muggle would notice--same way as them, they’re all trying to get in time to their trains. 

The adults are slowly getting left behind, not quite in shape anymore for such marathons as their kids, all of them pros at Quidditch at this point; moreover, they’re not as frantic as the children should they be actually late, who’re panting and shaking more due to nervousness and fright than any out of proportion exercise. 

“Hey, be a bit smart and don’t try to get in all at once,” orders Harry, voice loud enough for all the children to hear. “James, you go first--Rose, follow him. Albus, you go in last. Don’t wait for us, go straight to look for a seat in the train.” 

“Okay,” accept all of them, for once not making a fuss over everything. 

“Lily, don’t let go of me,” Harry adds, grabbing his young daughter’s hand, who sighs deeply as a means of compensating not breaking free from his father. 

They finally see the entrance between Platforms 9 and 10. Complying Harry’s orders, James sprints the first; at her mother’s signal of approval, Rose follows his suit, with Albus two feet behind. At the back, Harry and Ginny, with Lily between them, and Ron and Hermione, dragging Hugo along, follow the three kids. 

Following them not to the Platform 9 and 3/4, but instead meeting face to face against the cold, stone wall; a painful hit that sends the three students to the floor, along with their heavy trunks and pets, before any of them can react and prevent the fall--which means, they attract also the attention of a couple trainmasters. Since there are adults too with the kids, they all turn a blind eye hoping they'll fix everything by themselves. 

It takes them a good two minutes to help James, Albus and Rose stand up and pick up all their stuff. Hugo and Lily have been over the wall all the time, touching nothing but cold stone. Not a passageway. Even so, because their kids couldn’t get pass through just yet, Hermione and Ginny also try to get through, just because they can’t believe they’re in this situation. 

“It’s closed,” confirms Hermione in a whisper. 

Everyone’s souls falls to the ground. At the same time, the nine family members look up at the clock above the separation wall between platforms. It’s now eight minutes after eleven. All parents are gone, all students are inside the Hogwarts Express; and the train must have left the station already. As it’s supposed to be, as every year. British punctuality doesn’t exactly do with such an extensive family as theirs and so many children to look after and take care of--all of them suffering from chronic delay. 

Such massive realization brings two different emotions to the present family members, differing according to age. The adults simply can’t believe getting in time to any kind of meetings is such a difficult task when dragging along five kids of their own. On the other hand, the kids just fall into despair and turn, shocked, out of their minds, towards their parents. 

“It's closed!!”, shrieks James. 

“What are we gonna do now?”, demands Rose. “How are we going to get the train now?!” 

“Come on, calm down,” begs Ginny, without losing her temper. “It’s not the end of the world, you know.” 

“It certainly feels like it!”, whimpers Albus, fighting back the tears. And he’s not the only one--Rose is also shaking trying to control her fright. 

Lily and Hugo, however, find the whole situation really amusing, doing nothing to help either their siblings or their parents. 

“You can’t go to Hogwarts!”, mocks Lily to her older brothers. And addressing now only Albus, who’s mocked her on this matter for more time than she was able to bear, adds, “You crummy! You’re gonna miss a whole academic year and then we’ll be only onw year separated!” 

“No!!”, shrieks Albus, without stopping to think reasonably. “I’m two years older! That won’t happen! Mom--!”, he begs, turning to face Ginny, who just rolls her eyes exasperated. 

“Lily, stop it, right now,” she orders sharply.

“But I want to go to Hogwarts! I want to see Jana, and Freddie, and--”, Rose keeps babbling.

“How am I ever gonna pass my OWLs like this?!”, demands James.

“Don’t be so upset, James,” replies Hugo, “now you have the perfect excuse not to take the OWLs exams. You knew you weren’t going to pass them, didn’t you?”

“That’s not true!”, the young man answers back. He’s now beyond horror for missing a whole year; he’s right outraged. He grabs his wand and points it straight at Hugo’s face, who pales instantly. He still doesn’t own a wand on his own and, moreover, is well aware of James’ uncanny skills for Transfiguration. “Say you were just lying!”

“Hey, there’s no need at all for threatening. Put that thing away,” orders Ron quietly, though his orders are abide and James, a bit ashamed, drops the arm.

“But I want to go to Hogwarts,” he whines.

“And you think that’s gonna help?”, chuckles Ronald. “Please, enlighten me.”

“Of course not,” confesses James, dropping his head. “I can’t conjure the Hogwarts Express back.”

“No, you can’t,” confirms Harry, caressing his hair caringly. And though for one part they’ve been able to put out the fire, it hasn’t been that successful on the other front.

“Then, can you tell us HOW will we get to Hogwarts?”, demands Albus.

“I’ve told you, you can’t!”, laughs Lily. “You’ll be homeschooled for a year!”

“Come on, this has to be joke, right?”, shrieks Rose. “There must be another way to get to Hogwarts!! I don’t know--Flying?!”

“I’d walk gladly if that way I could attend Hogwarts--”, whimpers Albus.

“Well, you better get started, then,” scoffs Hugo.

“Please, Hugor, shut up--I’m as capable as my brother of transfiguring you into a clown.”

“That wouldn’t make much difference, let me tell you,” scowls Lily. “How ‘bout something that can’t speak? Could you do that?”

“He certainly can--though only but mistake,” laughs Hugo.

And Albus becomes the second Potter kid to grab his wand to use it as a means to threaten who’s still a child, even wizard, who couldn’t defend himself. It’s so obviously needed a firm hand at this point.

“Come on, all of you, shut up this instance!”, snaps Hermione, effectively getting the five kids to stop bickering, yelling and whimpering. “You do realize we’re making a scene in the middle of the busiest train station of London?”

The five kids, showing the appropriate amount of shame, look sideways all around them. Even though everyone’s pretending now, there’re still some people passing by their group who eye them, between curious and suspicious. Fortunately, they’re all silent and resume their lives as if nothing had happened.

“Besides,” Hermione goes on, “no-one’s missing a whole academic year because you didn’t get on a train, so all this scene is completely unnecessary, for Pete’s sake!”

Heads dropped, looking at their feet, their children don’t dare anymore to engage any discussion or answer to them. Such quiet and perfect obedience coming from their five kids--so difficult to get usually.

“Thank you, Hermione,” sighs Harry. “Let’s go back to the park lot and talk there. Come on.”

Instantly, the adults spin around, grabbing Hugo and Lily to follow them suit; leaving James, Rose and Albus deal for once with their own trucks. Ten minutes later, ten blissfully silent and quiet minutes later, they’re all at the park lot, at the space between their two cars, the trucks all but forgotten some feet apart. The kids are still in hysterics and stand restlessly; the adults, on the other side, seem to be quiet calm--which only irritates their children even more.

“So? What are we doing here?”, demands Rose, not as rudely as Hermione was fearing. 

“How’s the parking lot going to fix the situation we’re in?”, demands Hugo.

“The parking lot isn’t going to fix anything,” replies exasperated Hermione. “Being here is only a means to an end--so you can come up with a solution.”

“Are you kidding?”, scoffs Lily. “Before they start to think, we’re gonna be eighty and this won’t be a problem anymore.”

“Does this mean I have to go back to Muggle school?”, asks Albus, fear in his eyes. “I couldn’t stand another year at that place. Or sharing a room side by side with Lily again. Please, tell me there is a solution.”

“Always looking at the bright side of things, do we?”, scowls Ginny with an exaggerated roll of eyes.

“Please, everyone, let’s focus. What can you do?”, asks Harry calmly, sweetly, forcing his kids to think for themselves for once instead of waiting for an answer to magically appear in front of them. He and Ginny have often forced them all to face any kind of obstacle the muggle way, so they won’t rely solely on Magic. 

“I don't think the Alohomora would work, would it?”, suggests Rose in a whisper. 

“Oh, great,” scowls James. “Why didn’t you suggest that one a bit earlier? When we were in front of the passageway?” 

“Manners, kid,” says Harry sternly, though his warning is barely heard over Albus’s scandalized shriek: 

“We're not at school, we could end up expelled!’’ 

“That won't happen,” reply instantly, confident, their four parents. No-one would dare to expel them, not for something as stupid as an Alohomora spell.

“Plus, I’m afraid the Alohomora only works for doors or barriers closed with a lock, not for secret passageways hidden by magic,” explains Hermione with an amiable smile. 

“So--Could you Apparate us to Hogwarts?”, suggests James. 

“You cannot Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts grounds,” chant Ronald and Harry at the same time, having learnt the lesson somewhere in the last nineteen years. 

“I’ve got an idea,” says Ronald all of a sudden, without looking at any of them, but rather looking around the parking lot. “Look for a Ford Anglia, everyone.” 

“Ronald!! This is not the place!”, exclaims Ginny, hitting him not so painlessly in the arm. 

“Ford Anglia?”, asks Hugo at the same time. 

“A type of Muggle car,” explains Harry at once, physically unable not to explain anything their kids ask him, even when he knows fully well they’ll go off topic completely.

“What does a car do with anything?”, demands Albus. 

“Please, haven't we told you about the time your father and I got to Hogwarts when this same thing happened to us?”, replies Ronald with a chuckle. “It's an amazing story,” he promises after the five of them shake their heads. 

“Good old days,” confirms Harry, reminiscing that one time. 

“A story which we will not tell you at this exact moment in order not to give you lot any bad ideas,” interjects Hermione sharply, sending her husband a hatred look. “It's not exactly the best solution to this situation.”

“No, I'm sorry,” replies Ron at once, dropping his head, looking just a bit ashamed. But all the kids can see a faint smile on his lips, because of the great memories--they must get their parents tell that story, sometime soon. 

“I guess we weren't the perfect kids,’’ grants Harry with a chuckle. 

“You don't say,” confirms an exasperated Ginny with a roll of her eyes. 

“Luckily, you're not twelve anymore, and somehow your kids are intellectually older than you when you were their ages,” adds Hermione, addressing both Harry and Ron, who, despite being adults themselves the two of them, feel just the tiny bit intimidated by their wife’s reproaches. 

“And that’s only due to their mothers' genes,” says Ronald, hugging Hermione by the waist and lean in to kiss her on the cheek. 

A gesture that, obviously, infuriates a bit more all their children. 

“Uncle Ron, Auntie Hermione, we’ve begged you, not in front of us!”, begs James. 

“Hello? We're still late and you're flirting with each other?! ”

“Come on, timing, please.”

“Well, instead of complaining that much, why don't you come up with a rational solution to get to Hogwarts?”, suggests Ginny, so they can distract them of the married couple who’re still having a private moment of their own.

“You know that one won't save you,” warns Hermione, in an apparent serious tone, though she’s smiling behind her cold façade. 

“Sadly, I do,” sighs Ron before releasing him, facing the kids who’re still coming up with different ideas as not to miss the whole academic year. 

“Could you drive us to school?”

“Hey, you do realize we have our jobs that we need to attend too, right?”, laughs Ron. “Can’t waste the whole day only because you can’t be punctual for your lives.” 

“So, is it possible to drive to the school?”, asks Rose, a bit taken aback by the mere suggestion. 

“Unfortunately, no,” replies Ginny in a deep sigh. “There are only few ways of getting to Hogwarts.”

And finally, James Sirius, the same way his father and his best friend should have come up with that idea on their second year of school at Hogwarts, offers the solution the four parents were expecting to hear from them. 

“Could you contact with someone at school and explain the problem? So they send back the Hogwarts Express?”

And though it’s the rational thing to do and praise James for suggesting it, the four adults start chuckling and can’t stop for some minutes, no matter what their kids tell them. 

“What’s going on?”, they demand. “Is it that story? Can’t you tell us?” 

“Not now,” reply them every time. 

“It’s just--that was exactly what we wanted to hear,” says Ronald. 

“Yes, James, of course we can do that,” confirms Ginny. 

“In fact, that’s exactly what we’re gonna do,” adds Harry, unlocking his car to get a notebook and a pen. Sitting at the driver’s seat, as their kids roam around the vehicle, trying to know what he’s writing, in case he’s blaming it all to them. Five minutes later, he takes James’ owl from his cage, ties the letter to his paw and sends him flying away. The Weasley-Potter clan watch him go until they lose sight of the animal and order their kids to get to their vehicles. They head for Potter’s apartment in the city, where Harry promised the Headmistress they’d be until she could contact them. 

Which she does, not two hours later. They’re all sitting around the living room, cups of tea on all their hands, tying to kill time quietly as not to get into any more trouble, when the fire on the fireplace lights for no apparent reason and they all see the Hogwarts’ current Headmistress head in the flames, looking at them all sternly. Even at a distance, even to those who haven’t been her pupils for decades, they all feel a bit weary. 

“Morning, everyone,” she greets them all, without wasting time on a proper, individual greeting; they don’t have all day. “I understand you couldn't get to the train?”

“We were late,” confesses Harry. 

“No play by an elf house then?”, asks McGonagall, eyebrows raised. 

“No such luck this time, I'm afraid,” chuckles the man. 

“What’s that story?”, demands Albus to his mother in a whisper, still hoping to hear about it today before leaving t Hogwarts. 

“Not now,” replies his mother, hushing him. 

“Well, thankfully there’s an easy solution to it,” sighs McGonagall. “If your children are ready and still willing to assist this academic course--” 

“Of course we are!”, exclaims Rose at once, on her feet, ready to jump to the fireplace. Though luckily, Hermione grabs by the arm before she does any stupidity, under Minerva’s cold stare. 

“I see we’re energetic this morning. I do wish they spend it in their studies this year, if that was a possibility,” she whispers, looking at the four parents. They chuckle nervously, and their kids join in too--which in all, is as good an answer as Minerva could get, so she just lets it go. 

“Well, in that case, I’ll be opening the floo line,” she resumes. 

“Perfect, we'll do the same,” says Ginny, nodding her head. 

As the Headmistress disappears from the chimney, Harry takes Albus’ truck to make sure one more time he’s got everything he needs for the academic year--Ginny does the same with James’s truck and Hermione with Rose’s. It’s obvious this last check-in was unnecessary, and so the children let them know many times, as the trucks were fully packed before and they haven’t taken anything from them while they were waiting. 

Minerva’s at their chimney again before they’re through with their tasks and so it’s Ron the one who, as if he were the host of the place, welcomes her in and even hands her a cup of tea. She accepts, seeing as the children who must get going to Hogwarts aren’t quite ready just yet, waiting in silence at the sofa until their parents give the OK. 

“Alright then,” she says, standing up and vanishing the cup, “one at a time, please.” 

Following her command, James, Rose and Albus stand in line in front of the chimney, silent, quiet, waiting for a signal to step into the fireplace. As Ginny approaches with the bag of powder, Minerva steps closer as well. 

“You’ll be appearing at my study, so be careful not to get anything dirty or destroy everything out of clumsiness,” warns the Headmistress sternly, knowing the three of them only too well at this point. “If nothing else.” 

They all nod and James steps into the fireplace with his trunk and owl. In quick succession, the three kids are easily, quickly, sent to Hogwarts, and only then do their parents realize they haven’t got a chance to say goodbye. It’s not the usual way of sending them to school for nine whole months. 

“Thank you, Minnie,” says Harry, the faintest smile on his lips. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Luckily it was easy to solve and you contacted me instead of doing any stupidity,” replies the woman sternly, though she too is smiling. Hugo and Lily are watching them all intently, without making a sound, hoping to finally hear that story they aren’t telling them so they can launch the news to their siblings. 

“Oh, they wanted to,” scoffs Hermione, signaling to Harry and Ronald. 

“I'm beginning to see how your father and his friends would have been had he got to your age,” confesses Minerva. After so many years, they all were able to move on past the sadness of the tragedy. 

“Amazingly handsome, smart and famous?”, suggests Harry. 

“Good Lord,” scowls Minnie, rolling her eyes. “It's like talking to James Potter and Sirius Black all over again, all those years back. I should be going before I get any ideas of putting you in detention.”

“May I ask you don’t put my kids in detention instead of me?”, begs the man. 

“I can promise I’ll do my best to refrain myself,” grants the Headmistress. 

“Well, that’s as good a promise we could have get,” whispers Ron, hitting Harry painlessly on the arm. 

“Thanks again, Minnie,” says Hermione as the Headmistress heads for the chimney as well. “Hope you have a good academic year.”

“Likewise. And it'd be if your children tried to behave, but I don't know why I'm asking,” she laughs. 

“We'll try,” promise the four parents. 

“I’ll see you in a couple of years,” she adds, signaling for Hugo and Lily, proving she was not fooled by their act. “And I’ll see you all at the first Quidditch match.” 

She doesn’t hear any answer, though it was obvious the whole Weasley-Potter clan will be present at every Quidditch match of the year, as usual. And less than one minute later, she’s standing in the middle of her study, surprised to see the three kids still there, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Well, she figures this is the first time they’re not here because of some mayhem they’ve caused, so it must feel so different for them all. 

“What are you still doing here?”, she asks coldly. “Do you need to be told everything?” 

“Well, we--” 

“I hope you didn’t take anything from my office, did you?”, she demands sternly, headed for her desk, seeing the room is suspiciously as tidy as when she left. 

“Of course not,” replies immediately James Sirius. 

“Bitty,” says McGonagall, and for some seconds the kids are afraid she’s cast some spell on them, but then a house-elf appears in the middle of the office, bowing to the Headmistress. “Take their trunks to their dormitories, will you?” 

“Certainly,” says the house-elf, who disappears, along with the three trunks and their pets, after she snaps her fingers once. 

Before anyone sees anything else, someone knocks on the door. The Headmistress allows entrance and greets the Head Boy who enters her office, looking surprised a the three kids in front of him. “Oh, Podmore, thank you for coming. Would you do me a kindness and take these three of them to their House, please?” 

“Is there a problem, Headmistress?”, he asks, uncertain. This isn’t the usual procedure on the first day of term. 

“Not at all,” replies the Headmistress with a calm smile. “I just want to make sure they do get to their dormitories. If you please.” 

“Of course,” says the Head Boy, holding the door open for the three kids. At that moment, with a better light coming from the staircase, he realizes who the children are and understands McGonagall’s precautions. As well as acknowledging he’ll have a hell of a year as a Head Boy with the three of them. “Come on, guys,” he says, trying to hide a scowl. 

None of the children, not even the Head Boy, realizes McGonagall’s cast a silent spell in their direction; and so, nobody notices either how three small objects are summoned from James’, Albus’ and Rose’s pockets to Minerva’s desk. She hides an enormous sigh right on time, when Podmore turns to her on the last second. 

“Evening, Headmistress.” 

“Good evening to you too, Podmore. I’ll see you at the Feast.” 

Only when the Head Boy’s closed the door does Minerva take a look to what the boys where trying to nick from her office. The rare quill that’s usually on her desk, a necklace she keeps in a box inside a cupboard and some of the school records that were kept under lock. 

Sighing, figuring it just wouldn’t do to put them all in detention on the night of the Feast, she returns all the objects to their rightful places. When she’s done, she’s already hearing a low chuckle, and raises to glare at Albus Dumbledore’s portrait. 

“It’s the first day, Albus, what do you want me to do with this?”, she demands, exasperated. 

“Just wanted to say--some things never change, do they?”

 Minerva ponders the question while sitting behind the desk and summoning a cup of tea right in her hands. She takes a small sip and finally, she smiles, without looking at the portrait. “Indeed, they don’t.”


End file.
